Study on Phases and Thermoelectric Properties of Bulk Fe4Sb12 and Fe3CoSb12 Prepared by Milling and Sintering

Abstract

Bulk Fe4Sb12 and Fe3CoSb12 were prepared by sintering at 600 °C. The phases of samples were analyzed by X-ray diffraction and their thermoelectric properties were tested by electric constant instrument and laser thermal constant instrument. Experimental results show that, the major phases of bulk samples are skutterudite with impurity phase FeSb2. The electric resistivities of the samples increase with temperature rising at 100~500 °C. The bulk samples are P-type semiconductor materials. The Seebeck coefficients of the bulk Fe4Sb12 are higher than those of bulk Fe3CoSb12 samples at 100~200 °C but lower at 300~500 °C. The power factor of the bulk Fe4Sb12 samples decreases with temperature rising while that of bulk Fe3CoSb12 samples increases with temperature rising at 100~500 °C. The thermal conductivities of the bulk Fe4Sb12 samples are relatively higher than those of and Fe3CoSb12, which maximum value is up to 0.0974 Wm-1K-1. The ZT value of bulk Fe3CoSb12 increases with temperature rising at 100~500 °C, the maximum value is up to 0.031.The ZT values of the bulk Fe4Sb12 samples are higher than those of bulk Fe3CoSb12 at 100~300 °C while lower at 400~500 °C.